OpendanceAZ – Alex Cabeza, Dashiell Cote, David Chorlton, Tiffinie Greer, Deb Gregory, Martin “Mystik” Gonzalez, Crystal Perla Inzunza, Sat-Siri Khalsa, Fernando Lino, Robert “Flips” Lopez, Ana Bonilla Moreno, Natalia Ronceria, Annette Sexton-Ruiz, Mimi Solaire, Cristina Valenzuela, Aimee Walsh, Kenyata Christina White.
OpendanceAZ- Support Team- Eileen Shrout Spitalny, Jacques Myers, Sierra Ramm, Ron Tang, Tracy Thomason, Bridgette Covington Knox, Ismael Gaytan, Alberto “Sasha Bratz”, Anthony Shevlin Gonzales, Rosie Villegas Smith, Pricilla Monje
Ana Maria Bonilla Carreno (Ana Moreno) – Director of Mexican Folkloric Dance for OpendanceAZ since 2008, was born the 14thof September of 1963 in the city of Mexico. At 11 yrs of age she initiated her studies
for teacher and dancer of folkloric dances of Mexico at the School of Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Ms.Moreno studied music, drama, ballet, contemporary dance, choreography, scenic and costume design, stage make-up and histor
y of Mexico. For 6 years she danced with el Ballet Folklorico de Amalia Hernandez and with el Ballet Folklorico de Silvia
Lozano, and taught classes of basic stagecraft. From 1987 to 1993 Ms.Moreno worked in the school of artistic initiation with the group Ollin Yoliztli (life and movement), which inspired her to start Ollin Yoliztli , her own Phoenix based Folkloric dance company. In 1994 to 2010, she was director of ballet folklorico for youth for the Scottsdale school district. For information about Ana’s classes and dance company please visit www.ollinyoliztli.com/
Fernando Lino born in Phoenix, Arizona, began studying Ballroom in 2006 at Arizona State University when he was 18. He specialized in Salsa, and performed with the ASU Latin Dance Team. He continued his studies with Decho and Bree, currently ranked No. 1 in U.S. Professional American Rhythm, and has competed in several competitions around the U.S. In 2010 Fernando began to study other forms of dance, expanding his repertoire to include Mexican Folkdance with Ana Bonilla Moreno, Ballet and Contemporary with Michele Ceballos Michot, Belly Dancing with Ava Fleming and Spanish dance with Bernadette Gaxiola and Angelina. Since 2010, Fernando has been a scholarship recipient for OpendanceAZ classes, teaching artist assistant and performed with OpendanceAZ Company. Fernando has also performed in projects with the Arizona State University and in several local dance and performance group productions. Since 2011 Fernando has been teaching private lessons on an “Introduction to Salsa”, offering basic steps, simple partnering tips, and ballroom mambo techniques.
Kenyata Christina White
Kenyatas study of dance began as a small child, having been raised in an air force family, traveling throughout her young life, she was able to study with a wide range of dance teachers and learn many different dance styles. A Multi-faceted artist, Kenyata White, Aka: Kenyata Christina, is a very loving, patient teacher, dynamic choreographer, accomplished dancer, vocalist, songwriter, actor, director and fashion designer. As the owner of Rippstyle Clothing, Kenyata has designed original costumes and one-of-a-kind specialty pieces for performance companies and individual clients. She has instructed around the Valley since 1999, teaching hip hop, jazz, tap, modern and musical theater at Phoenix College, Abby Bella Studios, Al Moro Studios, Plumb Performing Arts, OpendanceAZ Company and Dance in the Rockies in Durango, CO.
Tiffinie Greer grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. She has been involved in the world of dance and the arts , since she was 5 years old. As a young girl she was part of the Jazz Etc. Dance Company based in North Phoenix and has been a member of OpendanceAZ since 1996. Tiffinie is an accomplished dancer, actor and painter. In 1993, she became a member of The Unlikely Theatre Company and worked with the company for 15 years, traveling to New York and Edinburgh to perform. With OpendanceAZ she has toured to Hermosillo,MX, performed throughout the Valley, and continues to work as a teaching artist and performer in the OpendanceAZ school and community programs, and is head of stagecraft and costuming for the company.
David Chorlton - In 2011 David began to collaborate with OpendanceAZ in their projects within the community of performance and arts & education as a writer and storyteller.
Born in Austria, he grew up in Manchester, England and in his early 20s returned to Vienna to live and work as a visual artist and writer. In 1978 David moved to Phoenix, AZ and was a member of M.A.R.S. space. A successful painter and writer, writing, though, soon became his primary focus, His books include:
A Normal Day Amazes Us (Kings Estate Press), 2003
Return to Waking Life (Main Street Rag Publishing Company), 2004
Waiting for the Quetzal (March Street Press), 2006
The Porous Desert (Future Cycle Press), 2007
He has also published many chapbooks, and has twice won the Slipstream Chapbook Contest, most recently for From the Age of Miracles in 2009, and in 2008, won the Ronald Wardall Award from Rain Mountain Press for The Lost River. His work appears widely in small press magazines, and he had a poem included in the British Museum’s anthology, BIRDS. The Taste of Fog is his first work of fiction, and the result of a long-standing interest in Vienna’s shadow side. His past readings include The Tucson Poetry Festival in 1984, the Bisbee Festival in 1991, and were commissioned to write and perform several times in the Scottsdale Center for the Arts Poetry Series. As well as continuing to present his own poetry, he has read the part of the narrator in Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale in the Downtown Chamber Series, and appeared in programs at Scottsdale’s Kerr Center.
